Pony girls blow out Eagles

Over the past month or so, the Havre High girls basketball team has made it look easy with 12 straight wins. But Tuesday night on the road, the Blue Ponies had to work for it against Fairfield.

The Eagles played well in the first half and even took a 21-20 lead heading into halftime. But the Ponies were able to find their groove in the second half as they eventually pulled away for the 48-28 win.

"Fairfield played really well in the first half. They handled our pressure well," HHS head coach Dustin Kraske said. "It allowed us to experience a little bit of adversity being down one at halftime, and I thought we came out in the second half and played incredibly hard."

Jade Wendland got the Ponies on the board with a steal that she converted into a layup on the other end. Alexa Tomlinson then responded for the Eagles to tie the game up. Yelena Miller used her size to grab an offensive rebound that she turned into a score to take the lead again. But the Eagles again responded with a score from Tori Jones. Miller scored again and Emma Woods responded to tie the game, 6-6, halfway through the opening frame.

The Ponies found some momentum late in the first quarter with a 6-0 run. After Kyanna Jarvis scored to retake the lead, Wendland made back-to-back baskets. After a bucket from Woods, Miller scored to stretch the Havre lead to 14-8.

The Eagles found a spark with a 3-pointer from Woods to end the quarter. They then carried that into a low-scoring second quarter as free throws from Tomlinson and Martinez tied the game. Miller was able to get to the charity stripe to sink some shots to retake the lead and buckets from Miller and Wendland stretched the Havre lead to 20-14 halfway through the second quarter.

But the Ponies' offense stalled the rest of the half as the Eagles came back. Despite an offensive struggle for the Eagles, Jones scored to cut into the deficit. Minutes later, Woods knocked down a three to cut the deficit to 20-19. In the closing seconds of the half, Jones made a layup to give Fairfield a 21-20 lead heading into halftime.

"We didn't move the ball as well as we should have and we shot a little bit quicker than we normally would have done," Kraske said about the offensive struggles late in the half. "Fairfield had something to do with that so credit to them."

But the Ponies showed why they are the defending state champions in the second half which they started on a 10-0 run. Sadie Filius got the run started with a layup to take back the lead. Miller and Avery Carlson made plays during the stretch to keep things rolling for the Ponies. A layup and one free throw from Miller gave Havre a 30-21 lead with just under five minutes left in the third.

Woods made three free throws to break up the run but a free throw from Molly Huse and a bucket from Filius gave Havre a 33-24 lead heading to the fourth. The Eagles tried to climb their way back with some scores to start the fourth, but the Ponies ended the game on 10-0 run to pull away for the win. As the Ponies got their offense going, they played strong defense only allowing seven points in the second half.

"It's all just effort, attitude and focus," Kraske said about the second-half defensive effort. "Our kids just want to work and they did a beautiful job."

Miller finished the game with 15 points while Filius scored 11 and Wendland scored 10. Woods led Fairfield with 13 points.

The win improved the Ponies' record to 15-1 and stretched their winning streak to 13 straight games. But they have a short turnaround as they host Browning Thursday night at Havre High Gymnasium. Because the Indians will be a formidable foe, Kraske believes the game will help the Ponies continue to grow right before the postseason.

"Browning's a fine basketball team and we're happy to play them," Kraske said. "They'll put us in situations that we haven't been in a while so it'll be fun."

The Indians enter the game with a 12-2 record and a first-place standing in the Northwest A. Mecca Bullchild leads the Browning offense averaging 16.2 points a game on 39.8 percent shooting from the field. Jerel Whitegrass will look to continue making an impact for Browning as she averages 10 points a game and leads the team averaging 5.5 rebounds a contest. As the Ponies come back from their road trip, Kraske expects a battle against Browning.

"They play hard, they play well together and they're hungry to come play us," Kraske said. "We're going to be a little tired from this road trip so it'll be a good challenge for our kids to maintain the focus and make adjustments during the game to help us."

Miller will look to continue making an impact as she leads the Ponies averaging 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. Wendland is another key component for the Pony offense as she averages 11 points a game on 38.5 percent shooting. But if the Ponies want to win their 14th straight game, they will need to do more than knock down shots.

"We'll have to rebound for sure because I know (Browning) always does that well. Defensively, we'll have to sit down and go to work," Kraske said. "Offensively, we have to continue to be patient and move the ball from side to side and get the best shot we can."

The Ponies play Browning Thursday night at 6 p.m. at HHS Gymnasium.

Havre 48, Fairfield 28

HAV - 14 6 13 15 - 48

FAI - 11 10 3 4 - 28

HAV - Yelena Miller 15, Sadie Filius 11, Jade Wendland 10, Avery Carlson 6, Kyanna Jarvis 5, Molly Huse 1.

FAI - Emma Woods 13, Alexa Tomlinson 6, Tori Jones 6, Toryn Martinez 2, Avery Schubarth 1.